You are here

Budget Summit to Spur Action on Reform

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget convened the first annual “Better Budget Process Summit” Monday in Washington, DC, bringing together Members of Congress, Congressional staff, policy experts, members of the media, and others who share a common desire to restore a functioning federal budget process.The summit meets on the heels of the creation of the new Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, a 16-member, bipartisan Congressional panel charged with proposing legislation to improve the budget process later this year.

This timely gathering will feature remarks by Members of Congress and leading budget reform experts who will discuss different reform ideas gaining traction and how best to move them forward.

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Co-Chairs Mitch Daniels, Leon Panetta, and Tim Penny released the following statement:

Mitch Daniels:

Families, local and state governments, businesses, and universities all have budgets – it is not too much to ask our leaders in Washington that America has one too. Putting a fiscal plan on paper is the most basic foundation of managing money, and the largest economy in the world should not be winging it. This summit is a truly exciting opportunity to set in motion ideas leading to the reliable and stable budget process the American people deserve.

Leon Panetta:

I have had the honor to work in multiple areas of the federal government – from Chairman of the House Budget Committee to the White House to the Defense Department. There is one thing in common across the government – people cannot do their jobs properly without the certainty a budget brings. From our soldiers to our farmers, this nation needs the stable and functioning budget process that it has never really had in modern times. The era of budgeting by crisis must end, and this summit along with the new joint committee is the best hope I have seen in years to put a new process in place.

Tim Penny:

As the saying goes – there is no permanent majority in American politics. It is important the budget process function seamlessly no matter which party is in control and any reform effort must be truly bipartisan. We cannot allow the dysfunction that currently exists and feeds the partisan divide to continue. Neither party should have the power to hold the nation’s bottom line hostage, and the bipartisan nature of this summit offers encouragement and hope for a process that works for everyone, every time in the future.

###

For more information contact Patrick Newton, press secretary, at newton@crfb.org.